Microsoft Patents The Body Bus

Mz6 writes "Microsoft has been awarded a patent for using human skin as a power conduit and data bus. Patent No. 6,754,472, which was published Tuesday, describes a method for transmitting power and data to devices worn on the body and for communication of data between those devices. In its filing, Microsoft cites the proliferation of wearable electronic devices, such as wristwatches, pagers, PDAs (worn on people's belts) and small displays that can now be mounted on headgear. "As a result of carrying multiple portable electronic devices, there is often a significant amount of redundancy in terms of input/output devices included in the portable devices used by a single person," says the filing. "For example, a watch, pager, PDA and radio may all include a speaker." To reduce the redundancy of input/output devices, Microsoft's patent proposes a personal area network that allows a single data input or output device to be used by multiple portable devices." (What about DoCoMo's research in this area?)

And in other news....

[ShepyNCL (740977)]

..... Micrsoft to sue all future survivors of lightning strikes.

Re:And in other news....

[2names (531755)]

Microsoft sues every living thing that has a nervous system. They are all electrical, right? They all pass data, right? They have input/output devices, right?

We are really screwed now.

Re:And in other news....

[baxissimo (135512)]

Resistance isn't futile. It's V/I.

Re:And in other news....

[jadenyk (764614)]

Microsoft redefines so much technology here... Think about it...

• Security Hole
• Emptying the recycle bin
• Packet Sniffer

Man, I could go on forever..

Re:And in other news....

[twofidyKidd (615722)]

Let's leave "floppy drive" out of this one.

Re:And in other news....

[MillionthMonkey (240664)]

Meanwhile, Ray Bradbury is demanding an apology from Microsoft for lifting the title from his classic work I Sing the Body Electric.

I'll try extra hard not to get electrocuted now...

[JohnTheFisherman (225485)]

I'm an EE, and I don't want my wife to inherit a lawsuit for patent infringement. ;)

Wrong icon

[essreenim (647659)]

If ever there was justifiable reason to use the Borg icon instead of patent pending, I think this was it ...

: )

This might be valid

[Woodrow (21174)]

This is a physical device and if there is no prior art then I think this is a very valid patent.

PRIOR ART

[the MaD HuNGaRIaN (311517)]

My brain is prior art.
It gets it's energy from my body, and uses it as a data bus to send messages to my various other parts.

Re:This might be valid

[Anne Thwacks (531696)]

No prior art? You might want to read the spec for ieee488 bus.

Is it not a requirement for US patents to be non-obvious as well?

Re:This might be valid

[aka-ed (459608)]

Doesn't matter. Patent #6754472, which you could easily access from the USPO website [uspto.gov], is a patent for "method and apparatus," and spells out exactly what the apparatus is supposed to accomplish. It doesn't prevent others from using human conductivity for other unrelated purposes, and in fact cites 8 previous patents, including some exploiting the same principle. You seem to be lacking a sense of what it is that patents actually protect.

Re:This might be valid

[mikael (484)]

They measure resistance conducted through the human body. Any standard electronic voltmeter can be programmed to measure resistance in the low ohm range.

With the Atari series of computers, it was possible to use human body as a game controller. By holding onto a pair of connectors connected to the paddle input pins, it was possible to change the resistance of the circuit by changing how strongly you gripped the connectors.

Re:This might be valid

[by Anonymous Coward]

Wear do current technologies like Heart Rate Monitors fit into this?

Polar, Nike, even Timex have what I'd call body based data bus technology already. Interesting patent to say the least, I wonder what is next. Beside a proliferation of IP lawyers.

Re:This might be valid

[tchuladdiass (174342)]

What about the times I used to hold a coat hanger in one hand, and grab the TV antenna with the other, in order to get a good signal? My body was used to carry data then (although it was analog).

the "Gates of Borg" picture

[saforrest (184929)]

Somehow, the topic icon of Bill as a Borg seems more appropriate than ever.

My thoughts exactly.

[Brandon Glass (790653)]

I guess Kevin Warwick [kevinwarwick.com] will enjoy the prospect of the Personal Area Network as described above, though. Now if only we could find a way to embed these devices directly into the skin and/or find a way to connect the input jacks directly into our brains...

(For those who don't know, Kevin Warwick is Professor of Cybernetics at Reading University, and performed an experiment on himself by implanting a tracking device into his arm, which allowed computers to determine which room he was in, and make judgements based on his position).

Re:My thoughts exactly.

[phasm42 (588479)]

More information on Kevin Warwick, a.k.a. Captain Cyborg here: here [kevinwarwick.org.uk], here [theregister.co.uk], and here [theregister.co.uk]
The folks over at El Reg are bigs fans of him ;-)

What are you doing there with all these women?

[by Anonymous Coward]

A beowulf.

No, really!

Re:What are you doing there with all these women?

[kpansky (577361)]

What are you doing there with those hands?

Imagining a beowulf cluster.

In other news, riaa speaks out

[MDFedderly (789643)]

When any of your portable devices detect that the DRM has been violated for their IP, they would like the wearer of the device to recieve a powerful electric shock, capable of causing paralysis.

And in other news...

[mikael (484)]

...Microsoft have announced they are patenting the use of the human body as a energy source for computers.

Re:And in other news...

[jb.hl.com (782137)]

Microsoft Matrix: Where Do You Want Your Probe Today?

Borg Love

[mfh (56)]

The Microsoft Slashdot icon has never been more accurate that it is with this article. Where are they getting the human skin to test this on? Interns? Seriously, though... just stick your finger into these electrodes, please.

Now that we can all be Borg, so I just want to know how long before we have Borg incubation chambers? Anyone with kids will back me on this... we need them. I would think the skin bus might cause cancer, wouldn't you? No FUD about it... this could be some scary shit when you consider Microsoft's security record, as well.

Re:Borg Love

[dlmarti (7677)]

So what happens when my wife and I have sex.
Do the two networks connect?
Is my watch going to get a virus from her cellphone earings???

I have now officially coined the phrase "Sexually Transmitted Computer Virus" or STCV's.

I would love to see the sylibus for the sex-ed classes in 2010.

Re:Borg Love

[NecroPuppy (222648)]

Where are they getting the human skin to test this on? Interns?

Sure.

Cause you don't build social attachement to MS Interns like you do to rats...

Upon further research

[darth_MALL (657218)]

They are also patenting the human built-in telescopic antenna array. Unfortunately, it will only be available to approximately 50% of the population.

the other 50%..

[Hooya (518216)]

well, with the download well present in the other 50% of the population, data mining just became a helluva lot more fun!

It's power not data

[malefic (736824)]

DoCoMo's research is to transfer data via the body, which IBM also has done research (and most likely has some patents on). The MS patent is to power non-powered devices by having a power supply somewhere else that transmits the current through the skin. Similar, but different.

No -- It's power AND data

[Mr. Sane (526041)]

Microsoft filed their patent (which is titled a "Method and apparatus for transmitting power and data using the human body") on April 27, 2000.

Yet at this web site, http://www.almaden.ibm.com/cs/user/pan/pan.html, there is a white paper (dated November 18-19, 1996) where IBM demonstrates their "new Personal Area Network technology that uses the natural electrical conductivity of the human body to transmit electronic data".

So, IBM demonstrated similar techniques back in 1996 that used the natural electrical conductivity to transmit data.

However, Microsoft's claims focus on power, and frequency adjustments, this is basis for their ability to send data.

One of Microsoft's claims states "modulating an information signal transmitted" using this signal; yet, in the IBM white paper it states that "The natural salinity of the human body makes it an excellent conductor of electrical current. PAN technology takes advantage of this conductivity by creating an external electric field that passes an incredibly tiny current through the body, over which data is carried."

My gut says that many of MS's claims are voided by prior art -- but one would need to study the MS claims in detail, and compare it to DoCoMo's and IBM's research on the subject, to make a truly educated rebuttal.

Handshaking

[nucal (561664)]

So I guess this might ultimately allow the transfer of data literally through a handshake ...

Let's see...

[The Ape With No Name (213531)]

When I was 5 I discovered electricity for myself by sticking a fork in an outlet. Thereby proving Benjamin Franklin right and developing prior art to use against Microsoft. Ah, the follies of youth.

So, instead of each device having a speaker...

[foxtrot (14140)]

...a relatively small, cheap speaker, each device will instead have a relatively large, expensive widget to use our nerves as cat-5 (human-5?) so we only have to shlep around one little speaker?

They are kidding, right?

-JDF

Oh great

[foidulus (743482)]

I beta tested the stuff, and now my butt won't stop rebooting...

Re:Oh great

[by Anonymous Coward]

Just clean up the mess after unexpected core dumps.

good luck MS

[Lumpy (12016)]

A personal area network (PAN) is a technology that could enable wearable computer devices to communicate with other nearby computers and exchange digital information using the electrical conductivity of the human body as a data network. For example, two people each wearing business card-size transmitters and receivers conceivably could exchange information by shaking hands. The transference of data through intra-body contact, such as handshakes, is known as linkup. The human body's natural salinity makes it a good conductor of electricity. An electric field passes tiny currents, known as Pico amps, through the body when the two people shake hands. The handshake completes an electric circuit and each person's data, such as e-mail addresses and phone numbers, are transferred to the other person's laptop computer or a similar device. A person's clothing also could act as a mechanism for transferring this data.

The concept of a PAN first was developed by Thomas Zimmerman and other researchers at M.I.T.'s Media Lab and later supported by IBM's Almaden research lab.

sorry but MIT and IBM is way ahead of Microsoft in this with prior art.

hell I made a example prototype from the information I recieved from mister Zimmerman back in 1997 for playing around with PAN's when i was heavy into the wearable computing research.

Microsoft, what Idea can we steal today?

Re:good luck MS

[kakos (610660)]

They aren't patenting PANs, they are patenting a particular method of implementing a PAN. Nice try at MS bashing though.

Re:good luck MS

[Lumpy (12016)]

I suggest you actually READ the patent. they are trying to patent data transfer (PAN) and power transfer.

if they weren't trying to sneak the data stuff in there I would not have a problem with it, but they are trying to submarine the PAN data technology into their own patent.

strip out everything to do with data and I'll love the fact they have a patent on a new idea.

Re:good luck MS

[Christopher_G_Lewis (260977)]

The MS patent actually references several other patents, including:

5796827 [uspto.gov] which is IBM's for the hand-shake data transfer.

6104913 [uspto.gov] IBM's PAN

and
6211799 [uspto.gov] MIT's on power/data transmission over the body.

Obviously they are building on previous patents, and have come up with an enhancement.

Or the patent office just rubber stamped it :-)

Anyone who has ever been electrocuted

[dpilot (134227)]

has violated this patent. Plus the old experiment in school, where the whole class holds hands in a string, and the person on each end each touches one lobe of a Van Der Graff generator. Everyone's hair rises, and whoever breaks the circuit gets the shock - but there was a circuit and power was being delivered, it was even doing work.

Here's the problem:

Patents are being awarded for spending a little time thinking. For having the luxury of free time to think, and company lawyers to file, companies are able to establish themselves as a gatekeeper.

Patents should be the product of effort - they were meant to reward that effort, and incent you to expend that amount of effort again in the future.

IMHO, these 'few hours of thought' patents are diametrically opposed to the concept of patents as enumerated in the Constitution.

IBM did this years ago.

[swngnmonk (210826)]

I remember IBM had a demo product that would exchange virtual business cards via a handshake - it might well have been a plug-in to a Palm Pilot They theorized max xfer at 2400bps at the time - this was 1996-7 or so. Still looking for the link.

Re:IBM did this years ago.

[swngnmonk (210826)]

Found it.

It was an IBM researcher by the name of Tom Zimmerman who created a "Personal Area Network", back in 1996: Personal Area Networks (PAN): A Technology Demonstration by IBM Research [ibm.com].

Looks and sounds a lot like what MSFT just patented.

We are the Borg

[shachart (471014)]

Resistence is futile... errr... patented.

Awesome

[isd_glory (787646)]

Borg coments aside, I'd love to see this work. Turning the human skin into a data path has wonderful medical applications. Imagine being able to monitor pacemakers, hearing aids, and other prosthetic devices non-invasively.

Furthermore, this could open up the prospect of "implants" to help humans with different things. If Microsoft can really get data and power running through the human body, it could really usher in a new age of computing.

See IBM

[TheLink (130905)]

There's some prior art for data transmission:
http://www.almaden.ibm.com/cs/user/ pan/pan.html

Where MS patent is different is they claim to do _power_ transmission as well.

I wonder about a Mr Tesla...

That said, I'm personally not comfortable with the idea of transmitting significant amounts of electrical power through my body- even low level power. Not sure what the side effects would be.

Already there are some studies that indicate that electromagnetic fields do affect the body AND brain [cognitiveliberty.org].

Cell Phones = Brain Tumors....

[LabRat007 (765435)]

Body Bus = Skin Cancer?

It will certainly be a while before the long term effects of data or power over skin will be available. The lower levels of the epidermis constantly divide and push older dying cells outward to protect the body (info) [about.com]. Many things can cause improper division and lead to cancer. UV radiation everyone should already know about but so can excessive amounts from other radiant energy sources; such as electromagnetic or microwave. I don't believe short term exposure to low levels of energy have any chance of causeing problems in a healthy adult; but years of exposure over the same areas may be another story. There is no way in hell I want devices sending messages or power across my skin until there is significant data to say its safe.

I'm thinking of starting the "FOSSie" Religion

[pandrijeczko (588093)]

In the same way that nothing from a pig goes into a Jewish body, nothing with a Microsoft logo goes into or onto mine...

It'd bring a whole new meaning to having "worms"...

slashdot needs years on their date stamps...

[Stephen Samuel (106962)]

the sited article [slashdot.org] is dated Sunday October 06, @20:37. .. October 6 of what year? This could make the difference between a random reference and verified prior art. (I'm not kidding here... Slashdot posts might classify as prior art in some patent fights).

In this case, it looks like this one was 2002 (the other option is an unlikely 1996), which is 2 years after MS filed their patent.

I'm lazy.. I hate having to use cal(1) to figure this out.

Re:Does this work???

[JPriest (547211)]

RTFA, the DoCoMo technology said they can exchange data between people at up to 10 meg. The DoCoMo tech lets users exchange email address and "buisness card" data with a handshake. Cool stuff.

And this is insightful how?

[Divlje Jagode (710824)]

Followed any [slashdot.org] of [news.com.au] the [ntt.co.jp] links [nttdocomo.com]?

My gut feeling is:

• Data transmission: maybe, but bandwidth will be low.
• Power supply: won't work

Look, you only had to go as far as the slashdot link [slashdot.org]:

Eye of the Frog writes "Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. and its subsidiary NTT DoCoMo Inc. have developed a device that attaches to your PDA which uses the body's conductivity to transmit data at an amazing 10 megabits per second.

the keywords being amazing and megabits. Please, in the future, keep your gut feelings to yourself.